Apple tablet: a coming literary revolution?

January 27, 2010|By Conor McCarthy | Special to the Tribune

It's finally happened. After months of industry speculation, Apple is officially announcing its tablet computer offering today. This "multimedia tablet" is somewhat like an iTouch on steroids with one significant added feature - it acts as an e-reader for the electronic books that will be sold in iTunes (which has now become an even greater misnomer).

Market speculation - that which is written on Macbooks by iPhone-toting Apple fanatics, of course - says that Apple's latest tech toy is poised to revolutionize publishing, doing for that floundering industry what the iPod and iTunes did for the piracy-ridden music industry. Of course, the e-reader concept is hardly a new idea. Almost every major electronics manufacturer has an e-reader on the market today, none of which have revolutionized much of anything. The most successful of them all, Amazon's "Kindle," is limited in functionality compared with the Apple item being released today. The draw for the new Apple toy - and the reason that it could bolster e-book sales more than other industry offerings - is that it is nearly a laptop replacement. Consumers who might be uninterested in a Kindle would be drawn to the multimedia features, unintentionally becoming a part of the e-reader community. On top of that, Apple already has iTunes, a very well established medium through which to deliver e-books, something every other format - even Amazon - has lacked.

The draw of the e-reader and e-book idea has always been multifaceted. It could give young writers (myself included) who have novel dreams of novel-writing the opportunity to self-publish their work in e-book form, circumventing the often treacherous and twisted avenues that normally lead to publishing. Conversely, it could also be awful in terms of muddying the waters of literature. It has an appeal for already established authors who would prefer to cut out the middle-man and take a larger share of the profits. Finally, it offers what could be the only panacea for the ailing magazine and newspaper industries. And, of course, it has the benefit of being "green."

By all means, the e-reader market may be the technological equivalent of that cursed location in town that has seen multiple restaurants try and fail to succeed. No other e-reader has yet become a household necessity, and although successful, Apple isn't invincible. The potential is there and the market is ripe, but only time will tell if the last decade's King Midas of the tech world, Steve Jobs, will make this another example of his golden touch.